Commonly owned PCT International Application No. PCT/IL2012/000354 entitled Valve Assembly for Use with Liquid Container and Vial and published under PCT International Publication No. WO 2013/054323 discloses valve assemblies for use with an infusion liquid container and a drug vial. The valve assemblies include a conventional male drug vial adapter having a male connector in flow communication with a puncturing member for puncturing a drug vial stopper. The valve assemblies also include an access port adapter for attachment to an access port of an infusion liquid container and a female connector for sealingly mounting on the male connector. The use of the valve assemblies includes several user actions including inter alia attaching a valve assembly to an access port, telescopic clamping the valve assembly on a drug vial, and opening the valve assembly for enabling flow of infusion liquid to the drug vial for mixing or reconstitution purposes and subsequent transfer of liquid contents from the drug vial to the infusion liquid container for subsequent administration.
Commonly owned U.S. Pat. No. 6,558,365 to Zinger et al. entitled Fluid Transfer Device discloses liquid drug transfer devices for aseptic reconstitution of a drug medicament for administration purposes. The liquid drug transfer devices include a so-called female drug vial adapter and a so-called male liquid vial adapter pre-mounted on the female drug vial adapter. The female drug vial adapter is intended to be telescopically clamped on a drug vial containing a drug medicament typically under negative pressure. The male liquid vial adapter is intended to be telescopically clamped on a liquid vial containing diluent only or an active liquid component to be drawn into the drug vial by its negative pressure. The use of the liquid drug transfer devices involves several user actions including inter alia a user telescopically clamping the liquid vial adapter on a liquid vial, inverting the liquid drug transfer device together with the liquid vial, and telescopically clamping the drug vial adapter on a drug vial.
The aforesaid liquid drug transfer devices require several user actions which can be time consuming and prone to error, for example, inaccurate telescopic clamping a drug vial adapter on a drug vial can lead to the drug vial being unusable. There is a need for improved liquid drug transfer devices requiring less user actions for actuation purposes, thereby facilitating user convenience and reducing wastage of drug vials.